Bitter

LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN 2018 ''Brilliantly paced, moving, thoughtful and sharp. Loved it.'' Renée Knight, author of Disclaimer ''Bitter, yes, but also sweet - and moving, and searching, and quietly devastating: a novel to detonate the heart'' A.J. Finn, author of The Woman in the Window ''Wonderful .

. . It''s a very painful story but told with a kind of lightness and grace.

Francesca Jakobi completely inhabits Gilda, in all her pain and obsession, all her self-deception and self-sabotage. An absolutely astonishing first novel'' Michael Frayn, author of Spies ''Bitter is stormingly good, deliciously addictive, as gripping as Zoe Heller''s Notes on A Scandal. It''s got to be the beach read of 2018!'' Peter Bradshaw, Guardian Film Critic ''Gloriously sinister and yet heartbreaking.

Brilliant'' Nicci Cloke, author of Close Your Eyes It''s 1969, and while the summer of love lingers in London, Gilda is consumed by the mistakes of her past. She walked out on her beloved son Reuben when he was just a boy